a beautiful truth

The Doctor: Clara? You asked me what we’re going to do, I told ya. We’re going to go to hell, or wherever it is people go when they die, if there is anywhere. Whatever it is we’re gonna go there and we’re gonna find Danny. And if it is in any way possible, we’re going to bring him home. Every culture has a concept of an afterlife. I always meant to have a look around, see if I could find one.

Clara: You’re going to help me?
The Doctor: Well, why wouldn’t I help you?
Clara: Because of what I just did, I just…
The Doctor: You betrayed me. You betrayed our trust, you betrayed our friendship, you betrayed everything that I’ve ever stood for. You let me down!
Clara: Then why are you helping me?
The Doctor: Why? Do you think that I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?

(short vid of the last few sentences of that interaction here)
I liked this scene a lot from Doctor Who, one of my all-time favorite TV shows. My theory as to one reason why people absolutely love this TV show is that in addition to the great sci-fi storylines that tackle issues of ethics and politics, we simply all want someone like the Doctor in our lives. The Doctor doesn’t just go on amazing interstellar adventures, but he’s sort of got this god-complex in that he’s always got a solution and he always wins. The Doctor also usually has a companion that he travels with, and what is always apparent is that the Doctor would do anything and everything to keep the companion (essentially his best friend) safe and alive, even by doing things that blur the lines between right and wrong, cruel and kind. At one point, he is willing to tear apart space and time just to bring a dear companion back to life. In the above scene, Clara is the latest companion, and when her boyfriend Danny dies, she threatens the doctor and betrays him to try to get him to agree to help her find Danny.  His final statement speaks of the immense value, worth, and care he bestows on her, despite anything she has done to him.

When we watch shows like these and see scenes like these, I think there’s a part of us that wants that for ourselves. We want a companion who would love us beyond anything we could do, who would do anything and everything for us, even despite our failings and mess-ups. We want friends who value us and would stick up for us and with us in difficulties. We want ultimately to be loved and taken care of in such a way that we would never have to fear the future or disasters. Having the amazing and exciting space adventures would also be a nice great plus. But even spouses, friends, and parents fall one level short of the Doctor. If you’re the companion of the Doctor, you know that he’ll always make things right, he’ll always save you, and he’ll do anything and everything for your well-being, and furthermore, he can always defeat the bad guys. There’s no guarantee our friends, parents, and spouses can do that for us.

I find it interesting that we have this need and desire for love, for close relationships, and for care; a desire to ultimately be saved from anything and everything. I think there’s a purposefulness to this need, and there’s a very available and real solution to meet it. The Doctor may not be real, but Jesus sure is. (Did I really just compare Jesus to the Doctor? -_- oh dear.) And Jesus is even better than the Doctor. While latest seasons show the Doctor himself and the surrounding people struggling with the question of ‘Is the Doctor a good man?’, we know that Jesus is good.  There is no doubt about it. Jesus doesn’t need to blur the lines between right and wrong to save and redeem us. He doesn’t place others at risk to save us, but He places Himself in the line of fire to save us. He steps into suffering and pain, into humanity in all of its sublime and disgusting aspects, simply to redeem and save us from the increasingly depraved condition we’ve gotten ourselves into. We’ve betrayed him, rejected him, denied him, disbelieved him, and killed him with our words, our actions, our rants, our politics, and our very hearts, and yet though knowing all this and even more of what we do, He came down into the midst of our corrupt, arrogant, and often times repulsive humanity (just read a couple of news articles if you’re not convinced), and redeemed us, all of us, at the greatest cost to Himself. Why? Not because we’ve done anything to deserve it, but simply because that’s how valuable we are to Him. What the Doctor said then: Do you think that I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?, I believe Jesus says to us daily through what He has already done by dying on the cross to save us. It sounded great in a made-up story for a brilliant TV show, now how much more beautiful does it sound when it is actually true and spoken to you and me everyday if we’d just listen?

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)